Below is an excerpt from the Call for Papers. Please don't put any questions to me, I am just forwarding this.

The rise and international dissemination of the modern guitar can be dated to the decades around the turn of the 20th century, when the instrument took on a variety of forms and became associated with a range of playing styles and music genres. This conference will explore the contexts and trajectories of the guitar during this dynamic period, which pre-dated its global proliferation as a popular music icon in the second half of the 20th century.

We invite papers that investigate the guitar and its worlds from a number of perspectives in the period dating from around 1870 to the end of World War II. Proposals may address issues including:

- The rise of classical, folk, popular and jazz traditions of the instrument
- Studies of specific local contexts and their guitar cultures
- The guitar as part of plucked string ensembles (estudiantinas, mandolin orchestras, the BMG movement etc) and their social or theatrical traditions
- Studies of guitar performers and/or promoters of the instrument
- The engagement of composers/arrangers with the guitar, and studies of repertories or particular works
- Instrumental design, guitar manufacture and dissemination
- Writings on the guitar and the critical reception of the instrument